Wednesday, October 28, 2009

These aren't the type of Cthulhu you'd typically find at Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins, but we welcome strange monsters of all sorts here. Plus, I'm currently obsessed with crocheting eyeballs. In my head I'm planning some sort of large eyeballed amigurumi monster. Coming soon, time permitting.

Until then we have these terrific Cthulhu Babies courtesy of Etsy seller Ugly Gerbil, (great name by the way!). There's no pattern, but you can pick up these handmade babies ranging from $14-$18 U.S. Ugly Gerbil has a wonderful selection of these critters available in the store. They're perfect for all your cute, creepy monster keychain needs. I also love the idea of using these guys as Christmas ornaments. Check out the glittery eye on that Angel Cthulhu, that's a great extra detail!

Monday, October 26, 2009

I just popped these fellas in the mail today. These are our donations to this year's Softies for Mirabel campaign. Come December these amigurumis and dozens of others will be given away to children who come from families that have been affected by substance abuse.

On the far left is my newest creation. We're calling this one the Eggplant Baby and it was designed by the boyfriend, who is both wise and witty. His original intention was a Medusa-like creation, but you can see I didn't quite get the hair long enough for the head size. Next time!

Also included here is one my Tiny Cthulhus and the frog that I made when I was testing out Tamie Snow's Tiny Yarn Animals. For those that are interested, there's still time if you want to send out one of your own creations. Donations that are received by December 10, 2009 will also be part of a window display at Meet Me At Mike's. Visit the Meet Me At Mike's blog for more details on how you can contribute.

Monday, October 12, 2009

The boyfriend, who is both wise and witty, and I spent a day at V-Con 34 a couple weekends ago . Since most of the goodies I picked up there were by original artists and science fiction themed I thought I'd share a few pics here. Some of these were one-of-a-kind pieces so I've photoshopped "copy" text over them to prevent people from making their own versions from my pics. Hope no one minds, but the artist's are only getting the revenue from my payment and I'd feel bad about copies getting out.

Up first is this amazingly detailed picture of the Firefly ship Serenity. Most of you already knew that, right? This comes from Chilam and I picked it up from the convention's Art Auction. I chose to pay the direct buy price, since I never seem to have any luck when I try to get something by bidding. Now I just have to pick up a frame for it sometime.

There were lots of really talented independent comic artists at V-Con this year. These next two pieces were printed on 4 X 6 inch photo paper and represent two of our favorite video games. These were drawn by comicker Angela Melick. You can check out her other work in her online comic Wasted Talent. No frames for these ones, I think they're going to become part of our growing collection of refrigerator art.

Sushi Dragon artist Lindsay Broadway's table is one of my favorite stops in the Dealer's Room at V-Con. This year all I picked up was the free sticker that's at the top of this picture. Below that are two magnets from Sushi Dragon that I purchased at a past V-con. I also have a necklace charm with one of her dragons, but it was too small to photograph well. I know the web page in the link isn't completed, but you can click on the DeviantArt, samanayrs and glassgryphs buttons at the bottom of the page to see more of her work. Personally I just love all the bright colours and the original look of her critters.

This picture comes from a t-shirt that I picked up in the Artist's Alley courtesy of Vigilant Comics. Some of my friends and I have an in-joke about ducs so the drawing of a monster gobbling up the ducklings at the end of the line tickled my funny bone. Sorry, to the uninitiated, I won't be explaining the joke. Hopefully you'll see the picture's charm anyway.

This last picture is "Chance Meeting" by James F. Beveridge. Something about this really appealed to me. It reminds me a bit of Wall-E. I was considering picking up a print of it from the Art Auction, but I had to forgo it due to a shortage of cash. It wasn't until I got home that I realized a full-colour version had been printed onto the backs of the V-Con 34 Program book. The paper quality obviously isn't as good as a real print, but it is approx. 8 X 11 inches and will probably look quite nice if I pick up a mat board and frame for it.

So that's my shopping experience at V-Con 34. We also went to quite a few panels and heard some great guest speakers this year including Tanya Huff (author of the Blood Ties novels which were later turned into a TV Series of the same name) and Christine Willes (who played the memorable and hilarious Dolores Herbig on the TV series Dead Like Me).

In honour of this project I thought about opening with a favourite quote from Kif, but honestly the best part about Kif is the way he sighs in defeat every time Zapp Brannigan makes some ridiculous request of him.

Zapp: Kif, get down there and unjam the missle, would you? Be a dear.Kif: (sighs)Zapp: And stop sighing so much.

(from Futurama , The Beast With A Billion Backs)

Kif here is the latest Futurama-related project from Craftster user LuckyNumber7 who is hoping to create crochet versions of the entire cast. I think she captured his likeness quite well and I can't wait to see more Futurama characters from her.

My own Nibbler pattern is always going to be my favourite, but I really like this version designed by Alicia of Hooks & Needles. I particularly like the eyeballs which are much more realistic looking than the flat felt eyes that I used on my design. I also like that Alicia went the extra mile and added the diaper. I just keep telling myself that my own little Nibblonian is house trained! You can get a free copy of Alicia's Nibbler pattern by clicking the link to her blog.

Fiona: The brains suppress intelligence by attacking the Delta brain wave. Every animal and robot generates this wave, as well as certain trees. Nibbler: Fry, however, does not. Fiona: Somehow he has cobbled together a random assortment of other brain waves into a working mind. Leela: Like a prom dress made of carpet remnants! Nibbler: Yes, like your prom dress.